Shooting the Bull

Duke University Economics Professor Charles Becker stops by tonight to Shoot the Bull with Kevin Davis and me. Professor Becker's students have conducted a number of studies over the past few years on Durham's economic issues. Kevin's written extensively about some of these in this "Two Durhams" series last year.

By almost any measure, 2008 was a complete disaster for Wall Street — except, that is, when the bonuses arrived.

Despite crippling losses, multibillion-dollar bailouts and the passing of some of the most prominent names in the business, employees at financial companies in New York, the now-diminished world capital of capital, collected an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses for the year.

That was the sixth-largest haul on record, according to a report released Wednesday by the New York State comptroller

. . .

The comptroller’s estimate, a closely watched guidepost of the annual December-January bonus season, is based largely on personal income tax collections. It excludes stock option awards that could push the figures even higher.

The state comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, said it was unclear if banks had used taxpayer money for the bonuses, a possibility that strikes corporate governance experts, and indeed many ordinary Americans, as outrageous. He urged the Obama administration to examine the issue closely.

In a year when Wall Street firms had to beg the US government for hundreds of billions to cover their losses, their execs got bonuses which could alleviate the suffering of hundreds of thousands thirty times over.

Your best entertainment value

Total control is what they are looking for including your life, that of your children, grandchildren and generations to come. Look what they are doing in large cities with food and beverages. They are banning certain everyday foods like cheeseburgers and sodas that they don't like and are placing extra taxes on the one's they can't ban. Foods with transfats and carbonated drinks are the current targets with more to come. And it is headed our way folks. Just keep voting for them and big brother will be planning your meals for you and dictating what you are allowed to think. They are already working on thought control at UNC. They will recommend propagandizing all students with diversity training.

The story is about a legislative move to strip labor Secretary Cherie K. Berry of her powers of workplace safety enforcement, on the grounds that she's not, you know, doing anything to improve workplace safety.

To be fair, that's a stupid idea. Workplace safety issues properly belong in the Labor Department. If Ms. Berry, who was re-elected again in November, isn't doing her job, the proper remedy is impeachment.

As for the commenter quoted above, let me paraphrase what i've heard so often in my life: "This is America. If you don't like it here, leave."

My new hero

A year and a half ago, i wrote about the sucky job the city had done after taking over the trail left by NCDOT on the former Brookline St., just south of the widened I-85.

From an email received today:

An onsite meeting was held with a TRTC representative about their having a workday or workdays on the trail and installing a two rail split rail fence (to coordinate with the one in the Park) between the trail and ditch on the Acadia end and also along the turn around at the end of Glendale where vehicles are reportedly getting through to the trail. TRTC will do this and will also install recently-received signage I had ordered on both ends of the trail which will be signed as minor entrances. They will also install 6 x 6 wooden bollards with reflectors and appropriate signage to replace the jersey barriers. DPR will provide materials and supplies.

The jersey barrier that had been moved aside should have been moved back into position. The barriers will stay in place until our workday when they will be replaced with the more attractive bollards. We will auger holes in the asphalt for the bollards to be installed.

Another onsite meeting with City Traffic Engineering staff and the Project Manager for the NCDOT project, resulted in , City staff will stripe a bike lane from the trail along Washington between Trinity and Club; will stripe a pedestrian crossing from the trail across Washington; and create a handicap accessible wheelchair ramp on the other side of Washington. Also, City staff will have the culverts left from I85 construction removed and have the nonfunctional street light that was left along the trail removed as well.

I hope this addresses neighborhood concerns and questions about the trail and hope these improvements will enhance people’s use and enjoyment of Duke Park Trail! I would like to thank folks for their interest and input and would welcome additional information or input as we move forward with these plans.

We haven’t picked a date for the trail workday yet, but I’ll let you know as soon as we do. It would be great if the neighborhood would like to come out and participate.

MLS cannot be liking this

"The Americans are doing everything they can to improve the level and reputation of their game. It's a young league and I think it needs another 10 years to become successful," said Beckham, whose contract with the Galaxy lasts through 2012.

"I have to admit that, having played in Europe, sometimes it was frustrating playing in certain games. But every now and then, moving from one state to another, I also enjoyed myself."

"Incomprehensible"

"Forty percent of the world's wealth was destroyed in the last five quarters. It is an almost incomprehensible number," said Stephen Schwarzman, chairman of the leading private equity company Blackstone Group.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Best song ever

Felecia

Felecia doesn't own a car or drive, so she's got no choice but to sit on an overturned shopping cart in a pile of trash waiting for her bus.

Really, as long as DATA treats its customers like shit, what kind of support can they garner in the community?

UPDATE: For those, ummm, "readers" who need some handholding to interpret visual information, there isn't a fucking trash can anywhere within a hundred yards or so of this particular bus stop. Given the proximity to Hillsborough Road's remarkable variety of fast food restaurants, and DATA's occasionally enforced policy of no food and drink on the buses, where else would you expect the trash to end up?

And, as Mrs D has remarked on more than one occasion, Durh m is the only place we've ever lived where picking up other people's trash is such a regular part of our social calendar. Do you really expect a bus rider, on the way to or from work, to pick up other people's trash and put it in their pockets for the ride home?

Put a fucking garbage can, a bench, and maybe even a shelter there. Most of the time, if you treat people with respect, they respond respectfully. Treat us like shit, we react that way.

Drinking Liberally

No, i don't really know what's going on with the Durham chapter. Apparently one of the hosts has had to drop out due to personal issues. I'm going to stop by at the Broad Street Cafe tonight after the radio show and see who's there. But if any of the regulars wants to step up to become a new host, or suggest some changes to the program, please do.

Do the right thing, Raleigh

The City Council will take up the issues of dog tethering and smoking in Raleigh parks at its meeting today.

In November, Councilwoman Nancy McFarlane requested that city staff research the possibility of Raleigh adopting an anti-tethering ordinance. The staff's report, which does not recommend a specific course of action, will be delivered to the council at the meeting.

A number of municipalities and county governments in the Triangle have already outlawed or restricted the tethering of animals. Chapel Hill allows tethers no shorter than 10 feet; Carrboro's minimum is 15 feet; and both require chains or ropes designed to prevent choking. Orange County limits tethering to three hours in a 24-hour period. Durham County and the town of Clayton both have ordinances that prohibit dogs from being tied up or chained outdoors.

Raleigh currently requires that animals be properly sheltered, but the city's ordinance does not explicitly comment on the use of a chain or tether. The ordinance does state that keeping an animal under steps, decks or stoops does not constitute adequate shelter.

Pedestrian fatality

A vehicle turning into a convenience store struck and killed a man in the parking lot Saturday evening.

The death occurred at the Family Food Mart at 1204 Worth St., and the vehicle fled south on Alston Avenue. Durham Police have not identified the driver.

When i served on the city's pedestrian plan oversight committee, we learned that that part of town has the highest rate of pedestrian injuries and deaths.

Remember a couple of years back when someone got hit by a car crossing Broad Street by the Whole Foods market from Duke East Campus? Remember how the city and state worked together in record time to get a new traffic signal, crosswalks, and enforcement policies in place to prevent any future occurrences?

Don't hold your breath waiting for a response like that in East Durham.

Inauguration pics

Mrs D's photos are here. (Don't know if you need a facebook account to look at them or not).

I spent most of my time at the mall recording audio. Maybe i'll process some of it and get it posted at archive.org or something in the near future for you to listen. Best moment where we were standing was the spontaneous "Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye" chant that erupted while waiting for the oath of office. I thought i was at a Cubs game or something. Here's a few thoughts to go with these pictures. It was cold. There were an unimaginably large number of people there. Two hours after we left the mall, and nearly two miles away, there were still thousands of people wandering streets they didn't know looking to get to places they'd never been.

The people who run the Metro appear to have thrown up their hands and said, "We'll never be able to move that many people around, so we're not even going to try." I haven't seen a single media report of what happened at Union Station on Tuesday afternoon. Here's mine.

We made our way to the Capitol district, because there are bars and restaurants there. We know that between 1 and 4:30, we had no place to be, having given up on the notion of crossing the mall to get to the parade route. We were told we couldn't board our return train before 5:30. We ended up snacking and drinking at Remington's on Pennsylvania Ave., "one of the 50 best gay bars in America." From there, it was a much shorter walk to Union Station than to L'Enfant Plaza, and our train tickets had nothing on them to indicate where we could or could not board.

At Union Station a crowd of about 12,000? 15,000? people filled the entire intersection. A handful of police officers wearing DHS vests closed off the only entrance. Union Station is kind of like Grand Central or Penn Station in NY i guess. There are three commuter lines that terminate there, the MARC, which is a Maryland line, Amtrak, and the Virginia Rail Express, which runs two lines to Fredricksburg and Manassas. We needed to get on the Manassas train. Plus it's a major Metro stop. We got to the station around 4 pm, maybe 4:15. One of the officers had a bullhorn through which he occasionally made inaudible announcements, to which the crowd would inevitably respond with a chant - "We can't hear you! We can't hear you!" It was crowded enough, late enough, cold enough, and i was tired enough, that getting my camera out, or my recorder out, was just too difficult, so i've got no pictures of the nearly two hours we spent there.

After 8 or 10 tries, we learned that the station was closed to Metro riders. They'd have to enter somewhere else. Then we learned that Amtrak ticket holders only would be allowed in. But it took a while for that information to percolate through the crowd, and it didn't seem like there was any particular reason. And no matter how many hundreds of Amtrak ticket holders made their way through the phalanx of officers, the crowd never diminished. There were twenty or thirty people deep in front of me, another 15 or 20 behind me, and a couple of hundred wide to both my left and right. Not the most comfortable situation. The sun was beginning to get low, and i really didn't want to be there if it got dark and cold. Finally, for no discernible reason, all ticket holders were allowed in; we made our way through the station, which didn't seem any more crowded than Grand Central on a Friday afternoon, found the VRE line, and after another 40 minute wait, boarded a nearly empty train.

I suppose that planning the logistics for a one-time event of 2.5 - 3 million extra people in your city is essentially an oxymoron. You don't plan a best case scenario, you plan to manage any emergencies that might occur and hope for the best, but damn, that was an unpleasant experience. Had it been for any other occasion, yeah, it could have gotten uglier. But, given the meaning of the day, most people handled the discomfort with grace.

Our train tickets:

Family, Manassas Station, 6:45 am:

Independence Ave., approaching the mall. We got detoured past the first three entrances, which were already filled to capacity by 9am:

The view from our spot on the mall:

Next time? I watch it on a smaller TV, with a glass of champagne, and warm feet. But i wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Non-believers

That's an interesting word, don't you think?

I'm surprised hardly anyone seems to be talking about it.

UPDATE: For "hardly anyone", i should have added, "in Big Media." Thanks to Joe in the comments for the LJ link, and i'm sure lots of people are discussing it in their blogs and personal conversations. Maybe i missed it and Fox News already did a one hour special on how the godless are taking over at the Museum of Natural History.

Best song ever

DC

Josh Marshall has published a few reader photos from yesterday. We were standing near this guy, about 40 feet closer to the center of the mall, and 20 feet closer to the Washington Monument, so roughly the lower right hand corner of the photo. It's even possible that the guy with the grey hat in front of the brown sign with his back to the camera is me, although there's no way to tell.

Duke Park bathhouse featured on Endangered Durham

I hope my readers got to check out Gary's post on the Duke Park bathhouse yesterday. I especially like this photo:from 1949. As others have pointed out, the Beaver Queen Pageant is right at home in the Duke Park meadow.

Thanks to Gary for this wonderful post, and stay tuned for future developments on the bathhouse renovations.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Best song ever

Travel weirdness

From our home base in Manassas, we've tried to get into DC the past two days. Absolutely no desire to take a car into the city, and we've got our reserved seat train tickets for tomorrow. But we wanted to scope the scene out prior and catch the concert on Sunday.

Sunday, the VRE commuter line from Manassas to DC doesn't run, which we only found out at the station, and by the time we could have gotten to a Metro station, it would have been after 3 pm anyway. Great to see Pete Seeger make it to the inauguration, even if he didn't get to sing "We Shall Overcome." But would have been better in person. Today, we tried to take the Metro from Vienna to DC, but there was a nearly two hour wait to purchase a pass, which just didn't seem worth it. So we hiked the battlefield at Bull Run and reflected on Stonewall Jackson and Rickett's artillery.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Best song ever

Bargains!

US electronics retailer Circuit City is to close after failing to reach a deal with its creditors and lenders, with the loss of 30,000 jobs.

Liquidators will now sell off the firm's assets. The announcement comes two months after the firm was forced to seek bankruptcy protection.

Some 567 Circuit City stores will now shut for the last time. About 155 stores had already closed in December.

Circuit City vice chairman James Marcum said the decision was "regrettable".

I'd love to see what Marcum and the rest of CC's management team managed to walk away with over the past 2 years. Hopefully the hourly employees will at least get first pick at discounted merchandise which they otherwise won't be able to afford, but maybe this is my chance for that 1080i flat screen.

Didn't see that coming

The N.C. Department of Transportation has stopped issuing new paving contracts for street maintenance because it has barely enough money to scrape by to the end of fiscal 2008-09, agency officials say.

Deputy Division 5 Engineer Joey Hopkins relayed word of the decision to the Durham-Orange-Chatham Transportation Advisory Committee this week, as he briefed members on the agency's financial problems.

With revenue from gas and vehicle-sales taxes running far short of projections, engineers in the seven-county division that includes Durham and Wake counties have only enough construction money to pay for safety-related improvements, some bridge replacements, and bridge maintenance, Hopkins said.

I have no idea if our new governor has the will or the skill to fix what is obviously a broken agency. Forget about building a transportation infrastructure for the 21st century. These guys can't even get us out of the 1950s.

Duke Blue Devil

Did i mention i went to my first b-ball game of the season on Monday night, Duke women v Maryland? It was a good one. Duke, up by 11 at the half, held on for a 3 point victory. I think Maryland actually took the lead by a point with about 5 minutes to play.

It was also my first look at the revised Duke Blue Devil. His face is narrower and more angular. I guess it's supposed to be more sinister, but i think it just looks more ethnic, if you know what i mean and i think you do. And what is up with the fake spandex muscles? That's just silly. Unfortunately, i didn't bring my camera, and i can't find a picture of the new guy on line anywhere. for you to look at. Maybe next time.

UPDATE: Steve was kind enough to forward a link to one of his photos of the new Blue Devil. (Don't know if you need a facebook account to view it or not)

Check out those fake biceps. I really think they need to rig up a harness and have him fly across the court during one of the incessant TV timeouts.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

What am i missing here?

Planners and elected officials may have little control over the timing of the debate once a Georgia billboard company decides it's ready to press for a revision of Durham's restrictions on its business.

Fairway Outdoor Advertising, is taking advantage of a provision in local law that allows anyone to ask for a change in development rules, City/County Planning Director Steve Medlin said Tuesday.

For a fee, the company has the right to a hearing with the City Council and the County Commissioners, Medlin told a joint panel of both those boards.

Medlin said his staff is busy researching billboard issues because he expects debate to unfold quickly once Fairway settles on a proposal.

"They're not going to go away," he said, explaining why he's having his subordinates do background work. "When it comes, it's going to come quick and it's going to come hard. I don't want to be unprepared."

Fairway officials want the right to replace some existing billboards with electronic models that can flash different messages every few seconds.

The company also wants permission to move and upgrade some billboards, City Council member Diane Catotti said.

State officials have told planners there are 89 billboards in the city, down from 101 at the start of the decade, said Julia Mullen, a planner in Medlin's department. Fairway is said to own 54 of them.

The city and county don't allow new billboards but a federal law bars them from ordering the removal of those that do exist.

A decision the Town of Cary made more than 20 years ago to eliminate all large signs and billboards is still being argued in court.

The Cary News last reported on the issue in March 2008, highlighting a Fairway Outdoor Advertising billboard that has stood on East Chatham Street for over 50 years, which town officials decided was overdue for teardown.

The town approved a Land Development Amendment in 2003, putting all rogue signs on notice and officially starting a three-year countdown for removal by July 1, 2006.

Two holdouts emerged: Fairway’s billboard and South Hills Mall, for a sign on the side of I-440 North that’s too tall.

The deadline came and went, and both Fairway and South Hills’ owners left their signs standing. Fines started to rack up, eventually to the hefty rate of $500 a day.

An appeal by Fairway in March 2008 was denied by the town’s Zoning Review Board. South Hills did not respond, according to town officials.

The Fairway billboard stands to this day, some calling it “the last billboard in Cary.”

Last i checked, Cary and Durham were both still in the United States. Why does federal law prohibit Durham from ordering the removal of billboards, but not Cary? What am i missing here?

Best song ever

"For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee! "

Ricardo Montalban, arguably the most important person in the history of the Star Trek franchise, died today at the ripe old age of 88. I say that because if Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan had sucked anywhere near as much wind as the first Trek movie, the whole franchise would have been as dead as an extra crewman in a red shirt on a desert plan in act 2. Fortunately, Montalban made a perfect foil for Captain Kirk, the movie was exciting and every bit as good as the Star Wars movies, and we got to boldly go with Captain Picard for a decade or so as a result.

Funeral arrangements are apparently incomplete, but there's no truth to the rumor that he'll be buried in a casket of rich Corinthian leather.

ITV is currently remaking The Prisoner in conjunction with American cable channel AMC.It is due to air later this year.

I think i posted recently that i just finished watching the series and felt a bit of a let down with the last couple of episodes. But really, that's gonna be peanuts compared to what a remake is going to do to this classic. Hopefully it will sink from sight as fast as The Day The Earth Stood Still.

An open letter to Durham City Council regarding barking dogs

UPDATED BELOW

I had a frustrating day in court yesterday trying to deal with this issue, as the citation issuing police officer did not appear to testify in the case against one of my neighbors. I'd like to review the history of the barking dog issue, and ask some questions of the City Council.

Prior to September 2006, there were three ordinances that pertained to barking dogs. There was the city noise ordinance, Chapter 26, Article II, Section 26-23, Paragraph b3, which reads: Particular noises prohibited. The following acts, among others, are declared to be unreasonably loud and disturbing noises in violation of this section but the enumeration shall not be deemed to be exclusive, namely: (3) The keeping of any animal or bird which, by causing frequent or long continued noise, shall disturb the comfort and repose of any person in the vicinity.

There is also a county ordinance which reads similarly. But, prior to September 2006, primary enforcement of barking dogs was carried out by the county Animal Control Department under the nuisance animal provision of the County Code. This provision declared that dogs which barked in excess of one time per minute for ten minutes were nuisance animals, and could be impounded by the Animal Control Department.

In September of 2006, following months, if not years, of non-existent enforcement of this provision, the Board of County Commissioners, at the request of the director of the Animal Control Department, struck this provision from the nuisance animal section of the code, reasoning that the noise ordinances, which were enforced by City of Durham police officers (or County Sheriff's Deputies in the unincorporated areas of the county) would be a more efficient and effective method of combating this infringement on the quality of life of Durham residents.

In December of 2008, citing in large measure the volume of calls received by the Durham 911 system relating to barking dogs, the City of Durham announced the creation of a non-emergency number for residents to call instead of 911 to make complaints about barking dogs, among other non-life-threatening violations. I asked Jim Soukup, the director of the Durham 911 system, how many requests for service regarding barking dogs were actually received. Jim reported to me that between January 1, 2007 and November 30, 2008, a total of 7299 barking dog violations were reported to Durham 911. This amounts to about 310 per month for each of the 23 months in the period studied. Jim also reported to me that this number represented 1.7% of all calls for service received by the 911 system.

I think it's reasonable to assume that the actual number of instances in which residents had their "comfort and repose" disturbed by barking dogs during that time was significantly higher, as many people will be naturally reluctant to use the 911 system to deal with a quality of life issue. As the use of the new non-emergencynumber grows, it will be interesting to see by how much calls for service for this particular violation grow.

On July 12, 2008, one of my neighbors was issued a citation for allowing his dog to bark for approximately 5 consecutive hours, between 5 am and 10 am, on a Saturday morning. That case was supposed to be heard in court yesterday, January 13. I was subpoenaed as a witness for the state. The citing officer did not appear, and the state was reluctant to bring the case before the judge, assuming that the charges would be dismissed outright. Instead, I was asked to attend a mediation session with the defendant. Given the alternative of having the charges dismissed, I agreed, although in no way do I accept that the situation represented a "dispute" that needed "mediation." Rather, we have a clear violation of the law that needed to be dealt with. We reached an agreement that is, for all practical purposes, unenforceable, and i see no reason to believe that it will be honored.

Here are the questions I have for the city council.

Of the approximately 7300 complaints received in the period discussed above, how many were responded to by Durham police officers?

Of these, how many were resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant?

Of the remainder, how many resulted in citations for violating city ordinances?

How many of these citations were paid? How many were challenged in court? How many guilty pleas were entered?

How much money does the city of Durham estimate that it spends each year responding to barking dog complaints? How much money does the city collect in fines each year as a result of these violations?

Is the city proactively monitoring the number of complaints made under this ordinance now that a non-emergency phone number has been established to receive these calls? What plans does the city have to minimize the occurrence of this particular quality of life violation?

I recognize, especially now, that with property crimes increasing at an alarming rate in many parts of the city, quality of life violations may not be the highest priority of our law enforcement officials. However, as numerous studies have shown, deteriorating quality of life encourages productive and law abiding citizens to move out of neighborhoods, lowering property values, reducing tax receipts, increasing vacancy rates, and in general contributing to a downward spiral in the life of a neighborhood. Barking dogs are merely one symptom of a decay in quality of life in our city, but one that carries with it, i think many hidden costs. I am curious as to whether or not these costs are being recognized by you as our elected leadership.

Thank you for your time,Mr. Dependable

====================

UPDATE: I did get some communication back from Durham PD indicating that the citing officer was home yesterday with sick children, and that the DA's office should have been aware of that, and asked for a continuance on that basis. Time will tell whether the mediation was a superior solution or not.

Witness for the prosecution

Turns out i'll be in court today, possibly even testifying about noise ordinance violations. If people weren't such selfish morons, our criminal justice system could possibly concentrate on its real work instead of this stupid shit, and i could spend my days off at the beach, instead of the halls of justice.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Best song ever

Policies

A former state lawmaker and one of two foster daughters he was convicted of raping under the ruse of harvesting their eggs have settled a federal lawsuit.

Ted Klaudt was convicted in Pierre on four counts of second-degree rape involving the two children at his hotel suite in 2005 and 2006. He pleaded guilty to two counts of witness tampering after the trial to avoid a second trial on charges he raped the same girls in his home in Walker.

. . .

The girls lived in Klaudt's home as part of a program that provides foster care for young people who have no safe home to return to after completing time in juvenile reform programs.

The Associated Press has a policy of not naming sexual assault victims.

Smarter?

Seen the new IBM "Smarter" commercials yet? Notice anything unusual about them? especially prominent in the Smarter Electrical Grid commercial, i thought. Check it out*, and see if you catch what i'm seeing. Feel free to talk about it in the comments.

===========* The website is in the UK, but the commercials are airing during the NFL playoffs, at least.

Better

The first openly gay Episcopal bishop will offer a prayer at the Lincoln Memorial at an inaugural event for President-elect Barack Obama.

The selection of New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson for Sunday's event follows weeks of criticism from gay-rights groups over Obama's decision to have the Rev. Rick Warren give the invocation at his Jan. 20 inauguration.

. . .

Robinson, 61, said both Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden will attend the event, and Obama is expected to speak. As for himself, Robinson said he doesn't yet know what he'll say, but he knows he won't use a Bible.

"While that is a holy and sacred text to me, it is not for many Americans," Robinson said. "I will be careful not to be especially Christian in my prayer. This is a prayer for the whole nation."

Robinson said his prayer will be reflective of the times.

"I think these are sober and difficult times that we are facing," he said. "It won't be a happy, clappy prayer."

Twelve hours and counting

That's how long the dog at 1707 Avondale Drive has been barking continuously as of 5 am.

Here's a sample of what he sounded like between 9 and 10 pm last night.

Interestingly, i've been subpoenaed to give testimony on Tuesday in a case where the property owner has been cited for a noise ordinance violation for allowing his dog to bark for a couple of hours at a time. I can't imagine that he'd skip town and abandon his dogs and property to avoid appearing in court, can you?

Adding - At what point does this become an emergency animal abuse case justifying immediate intervention by the county Animal Control Department?

UPDATE: Dog finally gave up the ghost around 6:20 and has been relatively quiet since then.

ZOMG!

So, Joe The Plumber thinks that God will protect him while he's in the Middle East because he's a Christian (JtP, that is). I guess now that He's won a BCS championship for the Gators, He's got some free time on his hands.

Wonder if the school/network/NCAA would have allowed him to advertise this message for 3 hours on primetime national TV?

Welcoming the 21st Century

Zipcar, which is described as the world's largest car-sharing company, has arrived on the Duke University campus.

Four self-service vehicles are available for rent on Duke's West Campus: two hybrid Toyota Priuses and two Toyota Matrixes.

Chuck Catotti, director of event management at Duke, said the "green" aspects of the program give people who want to reduce their carbon footprint more transportation choices.

"When you talk to people about why they can't consider alternative transportation, people often have lots of reasons," said Catotti, who oversees parking and transportation services. "This is one of the ways that help lower the barriers for being able to participate in alternative transportation."

Maybe they'll be successful enough to expand the service to the rest of Durham? Zipcar or one of their competitors combined with a more functional bus system (and sidewalks!) would make Durham a much happier place to get around in. Although why Duke's Zipcar rates are higher than, say, Philadelphia, is a little confusing. Must be that competition thing.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Best song ever

Shooting the Bull

We'll kick off our 2009 season tonight at 7:30 on WXDU with guest Scott Harmon. Scott's the architect who's developing Mangum506, among other projects. We'll talk downtown development and economic uncertainties, among other topics.

Aging

One of the projects i started back in the dawn of time (OK, early 2001) was digitizing all of the vinyl and cassette tapes i've acquired over the years, probably about a thousand titles. I got about 40 or 50% of the way through but suddenly, as Kevin Nealon once remarked on SNL, i lost interest. I got distracted. I had a flat tire.

Or something.

I started back up again last month, armed with some vintage audio gear.

It's not the fact that the music i listened to in high school is now 40 years old. I'm kinda used to that.

It's that the music i listened to as an adult is now 30 years old, or more. I remember dropping the needle on Steve Forbert's first album shortly after it came out. I was blown away that this kid from Mississippi could essentially get on a Greyhound to New York with nothing but a denim jacket and a guitar and some songs, and turn it into this record. I don't think i'd listened to it in over a decade, but i still knew all the words. (I didn't know then that he was actually 2 years older than me. He looked 16.) So i spent last night editing vinyl pops and fiddling with EQ settings so that the digital rip of Alive on Arrival would sound right, and i couldn't get it out of my head that it was 30 years ago.

As i've said before, that time passed in the blink of an eye, even with raising kids and all.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Best song ever

About fookin' time

Apple Inc. is cutting the price of some songs in its market-leading iTunes online music store to 69 cents and plans to begin selling all tracks without copy protection.

At the Macworld trade show Tuesday, Apple's top marketing executive, Philip Schiller, said iTunes songs would come in three pricing tiers: 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29, depending on the recording company they come from.

He also said Apple worked with all the major record labels to get songs free of ''digital rights management'' technology that limits people's ability to copy songs or move them to different devices.

Dogs and cats

A previously little-known ordinance that charges pet owners $10 per spayed and neutered cat and dog and $75 per unaltered animal is being collected by the Durham County Tax Administration Office this year, meaning higher penalties for those who get caught not paying the bill.

It's 2009, people. Durham is a growing urban community. How in the hell does the notion that you need to pay a licensing fee for your pet remain "little-known" this deep into the 21st Century?

What are we, fucking Mayberry?

License your dogs and cats, keep their rabies and distemper shots up to date, give them adequate food, water and shelter, take them for a walk once in a while, and get 'em spayed and neutered.

Budget cuts

County Commissioner Michael Page comes up with the understatement of the year in this morning's N&O, noting "I have a feeling we're going to be bombarded" after County Manager Mike Ruffin announced some pretty draconian cuts across the board in county operations and services.

See, here's what i think needs to happen.

Mike and i need to sit down over lunch and figure out what services i need provided by the county. Then, we'll make sure that those get fully funded. Any other county services that i never use? Cut those to the bone. Hell, why should my taxes pay for things like schools or a Life and Science Museum when my kids are already grown?

Monday, January 05, 2009

Best song ever

Short attention span theater

A Bank of America manager and his teen daughter are safe after three armed suspects kidnapped them Thursday morning, according to Durham Police.

Kammie Michael, spokeswoman for Durham Police, tells NBC17 that the man and his 13-year-old daughter were driving on Pineburr Place when a vehicle bumped them from behind. The father got out of his Mercedes to talk to the people that hit his car. Three people confronted the man at gunpoint and forced him back into his car.

"It sounds like ... if they went up behind him and carjacked him, they had to been at least following him," Durham Police Lt. Mark Sykes said. "Planning out ... doing their homework."

According to Michael, at that point the suspects put the daughter into the trunk of the vehicle that caused the accident. Michael said the daughter was able to get out of the trunk safely, but couldn't provide details on how the daughter was able to escape. She flagged down a Sheriff's Deputy.

Police say the bank manager and one of the suspects drove to the Bank of America at 3807 North Duke Street in the victim's car, followed by another suspect in a grey colored SUV.

I know the needs of the news cycle force us to have short attention spans, but this was a front page story for a day or two just a month ago, and then just completely disappeared without arrests, updates, or debunking. Do we have three kidnappers at large in our community or not? Do we have a news media that knows the meaning of the word followup? Do we have a police department that's willing to determine whether a crime was committed or not and share that information with the public?

Craigslist

So i've started selling a few extraneous items on Craigslist. And the first one is being purchased by someone whose bank has inexplicably sent me a check (or so she claims) for about 25 times the actual agreed upon price, but i'm supposed to cash the check and take an extra hundred bucks or so for my troubles before sending her the balance or something like that.

Damn

Sore Loserman

The top Senate Republican said his caucus would block any attempt to seat Democrat Al Franken until an anticipated court case over Minnesota's close election is finished and an official election certificate is conferred.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn said Friday that Republicans would object to seating the race leader Franken sooner. A filibuster would require 60 votes to break — a few more than Democrats currently hold in Washington.

Franken holds a 49-vote lead over incumbant Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, pending the resolution of the absentee ballots. Franken's campaign has declined to say whether he would try to take his seat immediately if the canvassing board certifies him the winner.

Senate Democrats have not indicated what they would do if Franken's lead over Coleman holds up after the recount ends.

About

Since 1949, Durhamites have slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that, in our town, erection can be depended upon. Now, thanks to the power of the internets, we can spread that security all over the world.